The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

"Savage's illustrations—glowing, blocky linocuts, which evoke in line, shape and color the classic work of Esphyr Slobodkina—do their best, but they cannot lift this barely middling text to greatness. (Picture book. 2-5)"

The author of Goodnight Moon has, justifiably, been apotheosized into the pantheon of children's literature's greats.
Read full book review >

"It's bound to find its way to many a bedside table, to be rightly enjoyed by a new generation. (Picture book. 3-6)"

Take an old story by a skilled wordsmith (the text dates from 1953 and was originally accompanied by Esphyr Slobodkina's illustrations), add cheerful, cuddly illustrations and a fresh new ABC book that's also a bedtime tale is born.
Read full book review >

"Minor's furry, natural-looking animals and flowery meadows have an almost tactile reality, and his illustrations add movement, drama and context to the poems, making this book a treasure for a new generation. (Picture book/poetry. 2-6)"

Five poems, originally published in 1959, are newly illustrated with lovely, detailed illustrations of bunnies, mice and other animals in natural surroundings.
Read full book review >

Reissued with new illustrations by Hurd's son, Thacher, 68 years after its original appearance, this first collaboration between Brown and Hurd of Goodnight Moon fame pairs simple, cozy animal scenes done up in saturated colors with an open-ended series of Bigs and Littles: "There were two great big chickens / and some tiny little chickens [turn] There were some great big fish / and a lot of little fish."
Read full book review >

"She also included a rabbit family (mother, father, and baby) throughout many of her illustrations, in tribute to Brown's best-loved works. (Picture book. 2-6)"

Brown's quietly understated text, first published in 1952 with different illustrations, provides the words for this simple, sweet, and satisfying introduction to the Nativity story.
Read full book review >

"More polished than some of the fragmentary texts recently mined from Brown's archives, this combines soothing verbal and visual rhythms with a sense of mystery that will leave young readers or listeners spellbound. (Picture book. 5-7)"

The Dillons create an eldritch world for this philosophical rhyme, which was first published 50 years ago with misguidedly twee art by Barbara Cooney.
Read full book review >

"The mice do indeed scamper off, but young audiences are more likely to stay put, ready for a repeat encounter with this long-buried episode. (Picture book. 5-7)"

In a previously unpublished tale from Brown (whose newly unearthed early work is filling the shelves lately), a "fat little, round little, yellow little pumpkin" enviously regards a one-eyed scarecrow while growing into a "fiery orange-yellow pumpkin.
Read full book review >

"No writer is superior to Margaret Wise Brown for putting children to sleep, but this uninspired outing won't win her—or Huang, illustrator of Teresa Bateman's Hunting the Daddyosaurus (2002) and dozens of other titles—any new fans. (Picture book. 4-6)"

Puffy as clouds and looking distinctly like cuddly toys, the sheep in this effective snooze-inducer loll in a rolling meadow strewn with exotic flowers and fairylike insects, but with skies and backgrounds that change with every turn of the page.
Read full book review >

"One can already hear the stamp and thud of laughing kindergartners, and if you peek further in your mind you'll see them, one arm in front, one in back, hopping to their teacher's musical exhortation as she falls back on this tried and true but freshly new classic. (Picture book. 2-5)"

The subtitle is unfairly limiting; among these 24 previously unpublished poems are deceptively simple lyrics that will engage readers of any age: "Brace nothing against it / Safe in your bed / Listen / And give yourself to the rain. . . ."
Read full book review >

"One scene showing Father, Mother, and Child sharing the bathroom may explain why the original was allowed to pass out of print, but these days it shouldn't raise any eyebrows. (Picture book. 3-6)"

First published in 1949, this looks and reads just like its predecessor Goodnight, Moon, with a series of cozy domestic scenes featuring a bunny family matched to childlike rhymes, some of which—"My dog. / Daddy's dog. / Daddy's dog / Once caught a frog"—is engaging silly talk, more about sound than meaning.
Read full book review >

"Stealing the spotlight in this way weakens rather than complements the text, resulting in an awkward mix of art and literature. (Picture book. 3-5)"

When painter mouse and his young apprentice leave their castle to explore, they touch, smell, and observe, immersing themselves in the experience, and then wield their paintbrushes to capture some of the colors they find.
Read full book review >

"Though Jeffers confesses that she isn't sure whether Brown considered these rough drafts or finished pieces, they read smoothly enough, and the lovely pictures make them into small stories that capture their sense as well as their depth of feeling perfectly. (Picture book. 5-7)"

"Think of this as a free-spirited alternative to Robert Kraus's Leo the Late Bloomer (1973) and its blatantly commercial reprise, Little Louie the Baby Bloomer (1998, not reviewed). (Picture book. 1-6)"

Raschka (Like Likes Like, p. 304, etc.) illustrates this previously unpublished companion to the recently reissued The Important Book (1999) with page after page of wriggly children rendered in looping, calligraphic black strokes and freely brushed color.
Read full book review >

"It is technology with a human face in this utterly modern revisitation of a classic—even as it blithely bypasses ecological concerns. (Picture book. 3-6)"

For those unfamiliar with Brown's 1960 work, illustrated by Clement Hurd originally and welcomed in these pages, it is a book in verse—half of it rhymed, half not—about digging.
Read full book review >

From a favorite author (Goodnight Moon), who died in 1957: a trite, previously unpublished story about little animals getting overappropriate presents; lushly illustrated in his own inimitable style by her longtime, Caldecott-winning collaborator.
Read full book review >

"A 1951 edition, with stylized illustrations by Jean Chariot, failed to take hold; Garth Williams' naturalistic, softer animals make the odd story all the more unsettling."

Fox eyes stare compellingly from the jacket; more eyes lurk in the dusky brush of the title page; and then—with "There was once a spy, a red fox who came to spy on the opossums"—just one eye, set in red fur, "gleams" at the sleeping animals through a hole.
Read full book review >

"Evaline Ness' vervey Christmas colored block prints are inspired, and needless to say this leaves a vehicle like A Train for Jane (see Klein, below) coughing up dust — or more appropriately, flattened to a shadow."

First published in a 1938 story collection, this fantasy about the steamroller Daisy gets for Christmas has obvious current appeal, but it couldn't be farther from a made-to-order liberation message.
Read full book review >

"When the birds fly south in the fall, they live in deep Africa with the flamingos until spring comes and the Hungarian farmer again puts up his wheel for their nest."

A basic life cycle story- of migrating storks in Europe and Africa- has a simple charm in Margaret Wise Brown's telling and a charming brilliance in Tibor Gergely's panorama pictures.
Read full book review >

"Here there is a nice ending when the little fireman has a dream of putting out a big fire while the big fireman dreams the reverse, but the parallel road towards climax is contrived and illogical, so we still don't endorse whole-heartedly."

A new edition with new pictures by Esphry Slobodkina in a green and red cutout and patch-work technique that turns this into a companion piece for The Little Farmer and The Little Cowboy Our opinion of Margaret Wise Brown's Big and Little series started on the downgrade with the cowboy book where a monotony of the big versus little themes and some rather stiff, faceless figures detracted from warmth and reality.
Read full book review >

Enchanting Leonard Weisgard pictures splashed in rich full color all over the double spreads, and a story that reads quite delightfully as a round the season pattern of growing things —this should prove a special Easter item, and a good all year round gift item.
Read full book review >

A history in rhyme of a mail delivery and its workings from big city to R. F. D., and by way of a secret letter from a little boy to his grandmother about a visit to the country.
Read full book review >

A gentle, rhythmic text, in the somnolent style for which this author is well-known, tells the sleepy-stories of friendly animals and machines in a lovely book designed to ease heavy-lidded toddlers to sleep.
Read full book review >

"Noises unexplained tease the young listener on to the next page, the colored text blends in shape and tint with the handsome design, and the whole production is an exhilarating sense experience."

The joys of hearing familiar names and lovely satisfying sounds mark the constant appeal of the Noisy Books, and the richly colored, striking illustrations by Leonard Weisgard contribute to the buoyant confusion of clatters, rustles and booms.
Read full book review >

Another experiment with the dream-theme, with a mood enchantment in illustrations and word-rhyme, but without the careful coordination and direct appeal to children of Who Dreams of Cheese?
Read full book review >

"The text and unfocussed pictures in red and white by Clement Hurd have an unpleasant quality."

Much ado about peppermint in an amorphous picture book, possibly evolved in haste- a great disappointment from this author who has made so many fine contributions to children's literature. Mr. Peppermint goes to the North Pole (for no apparent reason) and the Peppermint baby is born. Mrs. Peppermint sends a letter to the North Pole for a name ("Chocolate Peppermint" is the choice), and Mr. P. returns home to see the baby.
Read full book review >

A perfect book for very small children, one that will go on long after the printed word has been absorbed, for the text establishes a word game which tiny children accept with glee.
Read full book review >

One of the best of the Big Golden Books — and tops in merchandise value, while at the same time the simple little story has very direct appeal, particularly for Easter seasonal sale, to any three-to-five year old.
Read full book review >

The text shows excellent understanding of the child mind — for I am convinced she is right in suggesting that children think adults are silly when they talk "pretend" of what animals are saying when they bark and roar and growl.
Read full book review >

"The text pattern is a successful dialogue with almost nursery rhyme repetition and rhythm (those in prose)."

This is one of the nicest things Margaret Wise Brown has done, and Clement Hurd has made enchanting pictures, with line drawings and eight double spreads in four colors, beautifully reproduced.
Read full book review >

"There is perhaps an element of confusion from the fact that the little penguin applies his instructions at the wrong times or with the wrong people, but it makes for an entertaining nonsense tale."

A new sort of manners book, through the story of the raccoon and the penguin who lived and travelled together, and of how the raccoon impressed various aspects of good manners on the little penguin.
Read full book review >

This is straight slapstick comedy, which should be handled carefully in training children to take advantage of the ingenious — but not very simple — playbook set up of the cover and character sheets.
Read full book review >

Margaret Wise Brown's early, tender, truly sad story about the old, old lady warmed back to life—when "her toothache was all that there seemed to be in the world"—by her little blue gray kitten, is a perilous choice for picture-book revival, being long on atmosphere and short on action; but to succeed at all it needs far more resonant pictures than these configurations, which have neither drawing, detail, nor conception to commend them.
Read full book review >

The idea is one that will appeal at the two and three year old level- of what the little cat thinks about the excitements of Christmas, the rattly paper, the tempting ribbons, the irresistible Christmas tree ornaments.
Read full book review >

Be the first to discover new talent!
Each week, our editors select the one author and one book they believe to be most worthy of your attention and highlight them in our Pro Connect email alert.
Sign up here to receive your FREE alerts.